Corporate leaders call for focus on arts as work-force development aid
BYLINE: Carrie Ghose
What do an investment bank, law firm and a lawn care company have to gain from a vibrant Central Ohio arts scene?
The ability to attract and keep smart, young professionals, executives say.
"When we recruit people from our firm to come to Columbus, Ohio, from New York, many of them think they are being demoted," said Melissa Ingwersen, JPMorgan Chase's Central Ohio president.
So the banking giant talks up the diverse arts scene and the "jewel" that is the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, Ingwersen said during a Chase-sponsored breakfast to promote the center. After moving here, she said, some Chase workers resist being relocated back to New York.
During the May 22 promotion, Ingwersen spoke about the interdependence of a healthy business environment, a strong government and rich cultural offerings.
Executives at the meeting said they're encouraged by the economic development philosophy of new Gov. Ted Strickland and his lieutenant governor and development director, Lee Fisher. Fisher told the group the Ohio Department of Development intends to include corporate and community representatives earlier in the process of wooing employers to Ohio, and the arts play a key role in selling the state's assets.
"People are looking for places that are thriving, vibrant, where their imagination is fueled," he said.
Bringing excitement
Strengthening the arts is part of a complex effort to develop, attract and keep creative and technologically fluent workers, said Nancy Kramer, CEO of Columbus-based Resource Interactive Ltd.
"We have a number of openings in our firm that we're having a tremendous challenge staffing," Kramer said. "We've lost a lot of very talented people once they graduate."
David Aronowitz, executive vice president and general counsel for Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. in Marysville, said he's a late-but-enthusiastic convert to believing in the economic importance of the arts. After waiting impatiently through his share of operas, he discovered edgier exhibits and performances at the Wexner Center and found them "mind-expanding, chilling, provocative.
"People are going to be satisfied to live here in part because the symphony's here, the opera's here, the museum's here," Aronowitz said.
Finding money for the arts
The Strickland administration is trying to back up its goals with dollars. Strickland proposed the first increase in six years for the Ohio Arts Council, and the House of Representatives not only accepted it but increased it by $1 million. The proposed $12 million annually for grants to arts organizations is 6.7 percent more than the current budget, Executive Director Julie Henahan said.
Fisher also has asked the Senate to restore Strickland's proposal for $400,000 yearly in the next two-year budget to reopen the Ohio Film Commission, which former Gov. Bob Taft axed amid cost-cutting in 2002. The money would cover two workers who would market Ohio locations for movies, commercials and TV shows.
The House cut the money in its version of the budget and prospects are uncertain in the Senate.
Steve Cover, a former director of the commission, said the investment would be returned many times over.
He said producers of "The Shawshank Redemption," which was filmed in a historic Mansfield prison in 1994, spent up to $17 million in the area on hotel, food, lumber and crew members.